New Delhi, July 15: Marking a clear shift from the stated security-heavy approach, the Centre opened both its heart and arsenal in a freshly reworked anti-Naxal strategy at the meeting of chief ministers of Naxal-affected states with the Prime Minister on Wednesday. The Centre enlisted the support of seven states on eight major issues, including creation of unified commands for anti-Naxal operations, induction of 16,000 more special police officers, an empowered group under the Planning Commission to modify existing norms for implementation of development schemes with focus on local needs and conditions; strict, vigorous implementation of Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled)Areas (PESA) Act.
Focussing substantially on real tribal issues, apparently due to pressure from the Congress high command, the Prime Minister in his speech conceded: “The development of tribal areas, a special obligation that the Constitution has bestowed upon us, have lagged behind the rest of the country so far, and this state of affairs needs to be changed.” Giving a miss to the rhetoric of “biggest internal security threat”, the PM said, “For far too long have our tribal brothers and sisters seen the administration in the form of a rapacious forest guard, a brutal policeman, a greedy patwari. It is time that we provided a better delivery of services, one which is sensitive and caring to the needs and concerns of the tribal population for effective livelihood strategies on a sustainable basis.”
In the meeting Orissa, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Jharkhand agreed to create unified commands in their states to be headed by the chief secretary and with a retired Army Major General as a member. Acceding to the states’ demand for more helicopters, the Centre, however, stuck to its limited mandate strategy, by shooting down the proposal for Air Force help to carry out operations. “We, for the present, want logistics support from the Air Force, troop movement, supplies and evacuation,” said Chidambaram, adding that several of the IAF helicopters which were on UN duty would be inducted once they were pulled out.
–Agencies–